NAB 2017: Sony Boosts HDR Production Capabilities for Professional Products
In advance of NAB 2017, Sony is expanding the HDR capabilities of many of its professional products, to meet the growing requirements for HDR content in every production application. The new enhancements deliver HD HDR Live broadcasting and Instant HDR workflow in products ranging from live camera systems and servers to monitors and camcorders, which are continually updated through firmware and software updates.
HD HDR Live Broadcasting
Sony already offers 4K HDR production systems for motion picture and TV production. For live broadcasting, Sony’s SR Live for HDR workflow enables efficient, simultaneous production of 4K HDR and HD SDR.
In July 2016, the International Telecommunication Union published ITU-R HDR-TV Recommendation, BT.2100-0. The HDR broadcast standard presents two options for producing HDR images – Perceptual Quantization (PQ) and Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG). This paves the way towards wider adoption of HDR broadcasting and furthers the demand for HD HDR production capabilities.
Sony now provides HD HDR capable solutions for broadcasters in the areas of workflow, acquisition, recording, and replay, and monitoring.
In terms of workflow, SR Live for HDR can support HD HDR- based simultaneous production of HD HDR and HD SDR similar to 4K HDR. In the SR Live for HDR workflow, the camera’s output signal is converted into S-Log3, BT.2020, HD HDR as an intermediate format for production processes.
Once the image has been produced, Sony’s HDRC-4000, HDR production converter unit is required to convert it to an appropriate HDR-capable transmission format, such as standardized HLG or PQ. The HDRC-4000 uses original algorithms, including built-in AIR (Artistic Intent Rendering) Matching, to accurately reproduce the image quality and coloring determined during S-Log3 production — regardless of the transmission format used.
The SR Live for HDR production environment is capable of delivering high-quality content since images are produced using the S-Log3 format and converted into desired broadcast and other distribution formats.
The HDC-4800 (pictured) will be among Sony’s cameras to now support S-Log3 and BT.2020 for SR Live for HDR and will add HD HDR capability by firmware upgrade.
For acquisition, the following system cameras will all support S-Log3 and BT.2020 for SR Live for HDR and will add HD HDR capability by firmware upgrade: HDC-4800, HDC-4300 and HDC-P43. For HDC-2500, the HKCU-2040 4K HDR processor board provides 4K and HD HDR capability to the camera’s HD image sensor.
As for recording and replay, the PWS-4500 4K live server supports HD S-Log3, HD HLG and 4K/HD PQ with software update v2.3.
Finally, for monitoring, the BVM-E171 HD OLED master monitor will support HDR through a new HDR monitoring license, BVML-HE171. The license gives users an option for implementing HDR according to their production needs and budget limits. Sony’s BVM-X300 and PVM-X550 monitors are already HDR-ready for any resolution up to 4K, and now the addition of HDR to the BVM-E171 brings HD HDR monitoring capabilities to new users including OB vans, where space is limited.
Instant HDR Workflow
Sony now offers HDR capability on entry-level handheld XDCAM camcorders, through a firmware upgrade. The PXW-FS5 and PXW-Z150 will support HLG recording function (4K: XAVC 4:2:0 8-bit, HD: XAVC 4:2:2 10-bit) for easy and instant file-based workflows that showcase the quality of HDR. This workflow is very simple, enabling shooting, editing and viewing HDR content in HLG, without the need of color grading.
For the FS5, HLG will be supported, in addition to S-Log3. On the PXW-Z150, HLG will also be supported. With HLG mode activated, users can select the BT.2020 color space.
Catalyst Browse, Sony’s viewing and logging tool offering streamlined media management, will now also support HLG, allowing users to view HDR content easily.